


dark, late

by smallredboy



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Developing Friendships, District 13, Gen, Late Night Conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-01 09:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17864897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy
Summary: Rue is up late after a bombing to District 13.





	dark, late

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wildcard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildcard/gifts).



> last part! i hope you liked them all!!
> 
> enjoy!!

District 13 is hell on Earth for Rue.

The only person they could rescue from the bombing was her mother, and she's just a shell of herself, all quiet and tired and tending to the few crops in District 13.

A few people from District 12 come in after the bombing into 13— the Everdeens, and the Hawthornes. Rue wonders if they're all considered missing persons by their neighbors.

She is still thinking of the bloodbath but also thinking about just how many people survived these games. How war is coming, and how she's not ready for it. She is young (and she is a woman, apparently) and she wants to rest before the world she knows ends.

Maybe the world after it is better. Maybe it isn't. She doesn't know if she wants to find out.

After a bombing, they're even deeper underground, and it all goes too slow. She can't sleep, so she goes through the rooms of the people she knows.

Finnick is talking in his sleep, something about Snow and with a too heavy four letter word in his tongue. It strikes her too close to her own suffering, so she draws in a shaky breath and doesn't speak to him.

After going through the Victors who are still alive, she finds herself right next to the room of the Everdeens. The door is slightly open, and she can hear a girl sing softly to herself.

She pulls the door open, and Prim jumps— her mother is sleeping on the bunk beneath her. She's frail; she looks less skinny than when she first saw her at the Victory Tour, though.

It's been an absurdly long time, but it's also been only a year. Her fifteenth birthday is still coming up.

Prim doesn't need for her to speak, as she slides down the staircase on the bunk bed and heads outside, sitting against the wall.

Rue does the same— and God, Prim is the same size and height as her. Their differences might be remarkable; Prim is all like her mother, small nose and blond locks, nothing like Katniss herself, but she feels like she's seeing another girl-woman going through the exact same thing as her. She is another fighter, although Prim hasn't taken any weapons, she hasn't shed blood.

Rue suspects she doesn't want to, either. That Prim is eager to not have other people suffer like she has— and she understands, understands more than anyone else.  

Prim leans against her, holds her hand.

“I'm sorry about your siblings.” It's the first words Primrose Everdeen has ever said to her, and it smacks her back to reality. Her brothers and sisters are dead.

“I'm sorry about Katniss,” Rue says back.

Prim smiles weakly, just a vague semblance of an actual smile, and squeezes her hand. “That wasn't your fault.” She pauses, and they look at each other long and hard. “How are you?”

“I'm tired. I miss being outside.”

Prim's eyes get a wistful look, and she gets it, sure, as much as she seems like a homebody type of woman. “You know, you're like me, but you're much more like her.”

“Katniss?” she asks in a soft whisper.

“Yeah,” Prim nods heavily. “She'd hate being underground, too. She was always one with the forest.”

“I miss her,” Rue says.

Prim's face twists. “Me too.”

“I only knew her for a week, but I miss her. I miss my siblings. I miss Thresh.”

“I miss my District,” Prim tells her. “They probably think I went missing. At least… they're safe. For now.”

Rue nods. “I hope they're safe for longer, Prim.”

She sighs. “Yeah.”

A security guard walks by them, and Rue stands up with the same speed of always.

“Do you want to have lunch with me tomorrow?” Prim asks. “My mom's… she's never been fun, but she's even less fun than usual.”

Rue smiles. “My mom used to be fun, but I don't blame her for not being fun anymore.” She swirls Prim's locks on her fingers, and then pulls away, turning to the direction of her room. “See you, Primrose.”

She can hear her weak smile when she says, “See you, Rue.”

 


End file.
